P-47 with air conditioning?

[Jenisch]

I have already read in some sites that show up in Google when searching about the P-47 that the plane had air conditioning as "standard". I instantly became curious and made a search for manuals of the Thunderbolt in the web in order to understand how the system worked. But for my surprise, even after finding manuals from the B/C, late D series and even the N, I didn't find any mention about air conditioning, just air cabin air and cabin heat, as one would expect from an airplane of the era. So the question is: did the P-47 had this feature or not?

 

[swampyankee]

I have already read in some sites that show up in Google when searching about the P-47 that the plane had air conditioning as "standard". I instantly became curious and made a search for manuals of the Thunderbolt in the web in order to understand how the system worked. But for my surprise, even after finding manuals from the B/C, late D series and even the N, I didn't find any mention about air conditioning, just air cabin air and cabin heat, as one would expect from an airplane of the era. So the question is: did the P-47 had this feature or not?

I suspect that there may have been a shift in meaning of the term "air conditioning," but it's more likely that it's an instance of somebody on the Internet mistaking feelings for data.

 

[Jenisch]

I suspect that there may have been a shift in meaning of the term "air conditioning," but it's more likely that it's an instance of somebody on the Internet mistaking feelings for data.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Even if the aircraft had the system, I wouldn't assume it worked in the modern sense.

 

[MIflyer]

The first US fighter to have air conditioning was the P-80. Bleed air from the engine was run through a heat exchanger and then an air cycle machine, also called a cooling turbine, where the temperature fell, after which it was ducted into the cockpit to provide cooling. Uncooled bleed air was used to add heat to keep it from getting too cold. I believe that early system lacked a water separator, leading to snowballs being hurled into the cockpit under some circumstances..

The P-47 could have only have had outside air and air heated by the engine introduced into the cockpit. It would have been theoretically possible to tap off some of the turbo pressurized air and add a cabin outflow valve to pressurize the cockpit, but I do not think that was ever done, except possibly experimentally.

 

[MIflyer]

The first US fighter to have air conditioning was the P-80. Bleed air from the engine was run through a heat exchanger and then an air cycle machine, also called a cooling turbine, where the temperature fell, after which it was ducted into the cockpit to provide cooling. Uncooled bleed air was used to add heat to keep it from getting too cold. I believe that early system lacked a water separator, leading to snowballs being hurled into the cockpit under some circumstances..

The P-47 could have only have had outside air and air heated by the engine introduced into the cockpit. It would have been theoretically possible to tap off some of the turbo pressurized air and add a cabin outflow valve to pressurize the cockpit, but I do not think that was ever done, except possibly experimentally.

 

[swampyankee]

The first US fighter to have air conditioning was the P-80. Bleed air from the engine was run through a heat exchanger and then an air cycle machine, also called a cooling turbine, where the temperature fell, after which it was ducted into the cockpit to provide cooling. Uncooled bleed air was used to add heat to keep it from getting too cold. I believe that early system lacked a water separator, leading to snowballs being hurled into the cockpit under some circumstances..

The P-47 could have only have had outside air and air heated by the engine introduced into the cockpit. It would have been theoretically possible to tap off some of the turbo pressurized air and add a cabin outflow valve to pressurize the cockpit, but I do not think that was ever done, except possibly experimentally.

They could have bled off some of the air from the turbo to cool the cockpit, by cooling it and then expanding it through a nozzle, but this would probably be superfluous except for low-level operations in the south Pacific and August in Europe and the Med

 

[GregP]

No, it did NOT have air conditioning.

 

[LoneStarSoldier]

Might be one that was shot full holes....Air Conditioned....

 

[PStickney]

The first US fighter to have air conditioning was the P-80. Bleed air from the engine was run through a heat exchanger and then an air cycle machine, also called a cooling turbine, where the temperature fell, after which it was ducted into the cockpit to provide cooling. Uncooled bleed air was used to add heat to keep it from getting too cold. I believe that early system lacked a water separator, leading to snowballs being hurled into the cockpit under some circumstances..

The P-47 could have only have had outside air and air heated by the engine introduced into the cockpit. It would have been theoretically possible to tap off some of the turbo pressurized air and add a cabin outflow valve to pressurize the cockpit, but I do not think that was ever done, except possibly experimentally.

I've never seen or heard of (either on real examples, or in the Tech Manuals of anything remotely resembling air conditioning on a P-47.

I can attest that the T-33 (Trainer version of the F-80) does indeed throw snowballs. (And that the IP won't tell you ahead of time).
Air conditioning on the early jets didn't work on the ground, and the bubble canopies focused heat in the cockpit and your helmet. That's why you almost always see them taxiing with the canopy cracked open.